ACC quizzes Mahi for five hours

Bikalpa Dhara joint secretary general Mahi B Chowdhury talks to media following an interrogation he faced over money laundering charges at Anti-Corruption Commission head office in Dhaka on Sunday. — New Age photo

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Sunday interrogated Bikalpadhara Bangladesh lawmaker Mahi B Chowdhury for about five hours on charges of laundering money to the United States and accumulating illegal wealth.

The commission deputy director Jalal Uddin Ahmed interrogated him at the interrogation cell at its head office in Dhaka.

Emerging from the interrogation, Mahi, son of former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, told reporters that he was facing the ACC inquiry as part of political harassment initiated against him before the 11th parliamentary polls.

He claimed that a political quarter which had nothing to do for the nation was conspiring against him. He said that he would clear the entire allegation against him through a press conference on August 27.

He said that he has no illegal wealth and he never laundered money. ‘Even if I have any wealth abroad, I earned them legally,’ he added.

The commission officials said Bikalpadhara joint secretary general Mahi and his wife Ashfa Haque Lopa allegedly laundered money to the United States and amassed huge amount of money beyond known sources of income.

In June, the commission launched an inquiry against Mahi, an incumbent MP from Munshiganj 1 constituency, and his wife Lopa over the allegations.